OFFICIAL

Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Notice of Decision
Reference: FOI/2025/039
To Tyler
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx

Dear Tyler,
I refer to your request of 14 February 2025 to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
seeking access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). The purpose of
this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request for access under the FOI Act.
Scope of request
You set out your request in the fol owing terms:
Is it possible to provide copy [within the possession of your Department] of document recording
the Governor-General's approval of the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union Treaty 2023
(https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/tuvalu/austr. . and copy [within the possession of your
Department] of accompanying documents submitted to the Governor-General in seeking the
Governor-General's approval of the Treaty?
Authorised decision-maker
I am authorised to make this decision in accordance with arrangements approved by the
Department’s Secretary under section 23 of the FOI Act.
Material taken into account
In reaching my decision I referred to the fol owing:
•  the terms of your request
•  the FOI Act
•  the Guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act
(the Guidelines)

Postal Address: PO Box 6500, CANBERRA ACT 2600
Telephone: +61 2 6271 5849   Fax: +61 2 6271 5776   www.pmc.gov.au ABN: 18 108 001 191

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Document in scope of request
The Department has identified one document that fal s within the scope of your request.
Decision
I have decided to grant access in full, with irrelevant material deleted, to the document identified
within the scope of your request.
The document is enclosed.
Reasons for decision
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding that certain information is irrelevant are set out below.
1.  Deletion of irrelevant matter
Section 22 of the FOI Act authorises the Department to give access to an edited copy of a document
if giving access to a document would disclose information that would be reasonably regarded as
irrelevant to the request, and it is possible for the Department to prepare an edited copy, modified by
deletions, ensuring that the edited copy would not disclose any information that would reasonably be
regarded as irrelevant to the request.
On 25 February 2025, the Department advised you of its policy to exclude the personal and direct
contact details of officers not in the Senior Executive Service (SES) and any Ministerial staff, as well as
any person’s signatures, and the mobile or direct number of SES officers, which are contained in
documents that fal  within the terms of an FOI request. This category of information is identified as
irrelevant.
I am satisfied that parts of the document are irrelevant under section 22(1)(a)(i ) of the FOI Act. The
remainder of the document has been released to you.
Review rights
If you disagree with my decision, you may apply for an Information Commissioner review of the
decision.
Internal review
You may apply to the Department for an internal review. The internal review application must be
made in writing within 30 days after the date of this letter, please include reasons why you disagree
with the decision.
Applications for internal review should be sent to xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
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Information Commissioner review
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Australian Information Commissioner to
review my decision. An application for review by the Information Commissioner must be made in
writing within 60 days after the date of this letter.
More information about Information Commissioner review is available here.1
FOI Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your FOI request, please let us know what we could
have done better. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can make a complaint to the
Australian Information Commissioner. A complaint to the Information Commissioner must be made in
writing. More information about complaints is available here.2
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your requests, you can contact the FOI Section by email at
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,

Branko Ananijevski
Assistant Secretary
Cabinet Information and Governance Branch
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
15 April 2025

1 https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-
information-reviews/information-commissioner-review
2 https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-
information-complaints/make-an-foi-complaint
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